The grammar introduced below lets us say things like, “A is not as good as B”. The noun ほど can directly follow other nouns and verbs. You can think of ほど as the opposite of より. Both let us say the same thing if we reverse the logic.
| 今日は昨日より暖かい。 |
| Today is warmer than yesterday. |
| 今日は昨日ほど寒くない。 |
| Today is not as cold as yesterday. |
| 家族ほど大切なものはない。 |
| There is nothing as important as family. |
| 今日はやることが山ほどあります。 |
| Today I have a ton of things to do [as much as a mountain]. |
It often helps to think of ほど as meaning “to the extent”.
| 姫路城はびっくりするほど美しい。 |
| Himeji Castle is so beautiful you will be surprised. |
A more literally translation: “To the extent that you will be surprised, Himeji Castle is beautiful”.
In fact, ぐらい and ほど can often be used interchangeably. Grammatically they require the same treatment, but in terms of nuance ほど is more emphatic.
| 今年は５キロぐらい太った。 |
| I’ve put on about 10kg this year. |
| 今年は５キロほど太った。 |
| I’ve put on as much as 10kg this year. |
| 彼は迷わないでフェラーリでも買えるほどのお金持ちだよ。 |
| He has so much money that he could even buy a Ferrari without deliberation. |
| 会社が倒産するほどの状況でもある。 |
| It’s a situation that could even mean the bankruptcy of the company. |
| 数え切れないほど人がいました。 |
| There were more people than you can count. |
| 死ぬかと思ったほど痛かった。 |
| It hurt so much I thought I was going to die. |